Cardinal Re’s homily remembers Pope Francis’s legacy
Elise Ann Allen• April 26, 2025
During his funeral Mass, Pope Francis was remembered for his extraordinary legacy of service to those on life’s margins and praised for his constant emphasis on God’s mercy and the importance of fraternity in a divided world.
“It’s important to note that Pope Francis always placed the Gospel of mercy at the centre, repeatedly emphasising that God never tires of forgiving us,” said Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, in his homily.
“[God] always forgives, whatever the situation might be of the person who asks for forgiveness and returns to the right path,” Re said, adding: “Mercy and the joy of the Gospel are two key words for Pope Francis.”
Pope Francis died on Monday, April 21, at the age of 88 after a lengthy battle with respiratory illness, having made his final public appearance in St Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday, giving the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing and greeting the faithful in the square from his popemobile.
Ecumenical delegations from 34 other Christian churches and traditions attended, including a delegation from the Patriarchate of Moscow led by Metropolitan Antonij of Volokolamsk, chairman of the patriarchate’s department for external church relations. Other interfaith delegations were also present.
According to Vatican estimates, around 250,000 people came to pay their final respects to Pope Francis during his three days of lying in state.
Some 130 delegations, 50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs attended his funeral Mass on Saturday, bidding farewell to a maverick pope who left a deep mark on the Church and the world, including United States President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Re, in his homily, thanked the various heads of state and dignitaries for their presence, saying the outpouring of support following the Pope’s death illustrated “how much the profound pontificate of Pope Francis touched minds and hearts.”
He reflected on the Gospel reading, in which Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” and tells him, “Feed my sheep.”
“This will be the constant task of Peter and his successors, a service of love in the footsteps of Christ, our Master and Lord, who came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many,” Re said.
Despite Pope Francis’s serious illness and physical suffering in the final years of his papacy, he chose “to follow this path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life,” Re said. “And he did so with strength and serenity, close to his flock, the Church of God.”
Noting that Francis already had a wealth of leadership experience when he was elected to the papacy on March 13, 2013, having served as provincial superior of the Jesuits in Argentina and Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Re said this experience served as a foundation for his whole pontificate.
The decision to take the name Francis, he said, “appeared to indicate the pastoral plan and style on which he wanted to base his pontificate, seeking inspiration from the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi.”
“He maintained his temperament and form of pastoral leadership, and through his resolute personality immediately made his mark on the governance of the Church,” Re said, pointing to Francis’s closeness to the people and his attention to the poor and marginalised.
Pope Francis, he said, “was a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone. He was a pope attentive to the signs of the times and what the Holy Spirit was awakening in the Church.”
Recalling the Pope’s vivid use of imagery and symbols, and his familiar language and vocabulary, Re said Francis offered a response to Christians amid the challenges and contradictions of modern times, which he often described as an “epochal change.”
“He had great spontaneity and an informal way of addressing everyone, even those far from the Church,” he said, praising the Pope’s warmth, deep sensitivity to contemporary challenges, and his ability to share in the sufferings and hopes “of this time of globalisation.”
Re praised Pope Francis’s “charisma of welcome and listening,” and his ability to touch hearts and “reawaken moral and spiritual sensibilities.”
“Evangelisation was the guiding principle of his pontificate,” he said, especially with his emphasis on the joy of the Gospel as “a joy that fills the hearts of all those who entrust themselves to God with confidence and hope.”
Invoking Francis’s frequent description of the Church as a “field hospital” to treat the suffering and wounded, he said the guiding thread of Francis’s mission was his conviction that the Church “is a home for all,” with its door always open.
Re also praised Pope Francis’s attention to the poor, migrants, refugees and the displaced, pointing specifically to his visits to the Italian island of Lampedusa, the Greek island of Lesbos, and the United States-Mexico border. The crowd applauded loudly when he made this statement.
Of special significance was his 2021 visit to Iraq, “defying every risk” at the time, including Covid-19 and security threats on the ground. He called that trip “a balm on the open wounds of the Iraqi people, who had suffered so much from the inhuman actions of ISIS.”
“It was also an important trip for interreligious dialogue, another significant dimension of his pastoral work,” Re said.
He reflected on the importance of mercy and fraternity throughout Pope Francis’s pontificate, saying fraternity, in particular, “ran through his entire pontificate with vibrant tones.”
Pope Francis, he said, “wanted to revive a worldwide aspiration to fraternity, because we are all children of the same Father who is in heaven. He often forcefully reminded us that we all belong to the same human family.”
Re also recalled the Pope’s 2019 visit to Abu Dhabi, during which he signed A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, later signed by various international interfaith leaders.
Finally, Re remembered Pope Francis’s constant attention to the environment and his frequent calls for peace amid the wars raging throughout the world in recent years, “with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction.”
“Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions. War, he said, results in the death of people and the destruction of homes, hospitals and schools,” Re said.
“War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone,” he said, echoing Pope Francis’s many statements.
The crowd in St Peter’s Square again applauded loudly at Re’s words condemning war.
He pointed to Francis’s frequent exhortation to “build bridges, not walls,” saying his service as pope was always dedicated to humanity “in all its dimensions.”
Noting that Pope Francis ended nearly every public address by asking for prayer, Re said the Church now asks Francis to pray for them.
“May you bless the Church, bless Rome, and bless the whole world from heaven as you did last Sunday from the balcony of this basilica in a final embrace with all the people of God, but also embrace humanity that seeks the truth with a sincere heart and holds high the torch of hope,” he said.
At the end of the funeral Mass, Pope Francis’s coffin was scheduled to be taken by car to the Roman Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where he was to be welcomed by a group of poor and homeless before being entombed inside the basilica.
Home to Rome’s famed Maria Salus Populi Romani icon, or Mary, Health of the Roman People, the basilica was a favourite of Pope Francis, who visited before and after every international trip, and will now serve as his final resting place.
((Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images))